The Ivory-bill has frequently been described as a dweller in dark and gloomy swamps, has been associated with muck and murk, has been called a melancholy bird, but it is not that at all—the Ivory-bill is a dweller of the tree tops and sunshine; it lives in the sun...in surroundings as bright as its own plumage."

- James T. Tanner, 1939

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Phillip Hoose spoke at Ijams Nature Center






Oddly, when you write a book, one of the first things you have to decide is when to begin the story.

Tradition would have it that I should start with Jim Tanner in his youth, his background and why he went to Cornell.

Instead, I chose to jump into the Tanner/ivorybill story quickly, opening with Mason Spencer's shooting a Ghost Bird in 1932, thus proving it was not an apparition. I had a big story to tell and precious little space to waste. My contract called for a 300-page manuscript, no more but it could be less.

Originally, I decided to cover Tanner's early years as a flashback somewhere later in the book until I realized that Phillip Hoose had already done a good job of recording Jim's childhood in his wonderful book, The Race to Save the Lord God Bird.


In September 2006, I met Hoose when he spoke at Ijams Nature Center where I work. At the time, Nancy and I were beginning to pull together the initial research on my book. UT Press had just given me the go ahead to begin.

I did travel to Homer, New York and locate Tanner's childhood home to get a true sense of his roots but it turned out to be more for me than you the reader.

Pictured above: Nancy Tanner, author Phillip Hoose and myself.

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